Markets & Finance

Treasuries End Higher

January 20, 2004

It was another lackluster session, but a grinding bid persisted through much of the session.

Comments from Treasury Secretary Snow, suggesting the recent payroll report may have underestimated employment, upset the moribund trade. Prices pushed lower. But the bid came back in the long end, and this was linked to a possible muni-defeasance deal. The rumors were not confirmed, but the Street clung to the hype.

Retail, speculative, and hedge fund participation was light. Traders sold the opening pop. But bids under the market surfaced quickly. Swappers nibbled in intermediates as the corporate/agency calendar picked up, although only slightly.

In the Eurodollar pit, swappers were buyers out the curve, hedge funds bought the front December, but flows in that pit were also light and mixed.